X Me (pick what you like o: )
"I don't think I've ever met someone like you."
Akemi gave a smile like she always did, but this one was very different. It was sadder, more apologetic, and full of anguish.
The smile was directed at none other than Jaz, who had to watch through this entire ordeal. She had to try as hard as she could not to cry, but it was too much. Akemi's sad little smile pushed her over the edge as a tear streaked down her cheek. This was it. This was the end.
Akemi Sekai had been found guilty.
"I'm so sorry I had t' leave ya like this," Akemi said, crossing over to Jaz' podium and standing with her, "I never expected this t' happen. Not like this, at least."
Her voice quivered, like she was going to cry, but she kept up her smile. Jaz wasn't doing as well or calmly as she would've liked to, though. She was crying now and she gripped Akemi in a desperate hug. Akemi returned the hug, giving soothing strokes to her on the back.
Jaz started to finally raise her voice into a reply, "P...please don't go..."
The tears finally breached Akemi's eyes and began to flow. She took Jaz by the shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes, her expression now more serious than before.
"Jaz, listen t' me. I won't ever leave you. Even if I'm gone... I'll always be with you. I'll be lookin' out for ya wherever I go after this. But please, remember me. Not like this, though, not as the awful thing I've come to be. Remember me how I was before. When things were all okay. Just remember me, okay?"
Jaz nodded quickly, unable to reply through tears.
"You're one of the best people I ever met. I've been with a lotta people and none of them were like you. You're special, Jaz, and I hope you can be special to someone else someday too. Just... remember me. Here..."
Akemi pulled off her trademark blue hat, and handed it over to Jaz. Her hair was messy underneath, but it didn't matter now. The hat had a little note inside, on a piece of old-looking paper sealed with red wax.
"That's got everything I couldn't say here. 'm sorry I never got to say those things right to ya. Maybe in a long time... But don't come after me too quick, okay? Don't ya go dyin' on me when ya got so much t' live for."
She kissed Jaz on the forehead and wiped her tears away, then stepped back with one last smile, this one more sincere, but ready to wobble and break at any minute.
At that instant, the cold metal chain clamped around Akemi's neck, and she was pulled away. But it wasn't calm, oh no. She went out with a scream, a pained, desperate scream that directly resonated with another scream, which belonged to Jaz.
